Jennifer Herron
CEO & Author
Jennifer Herron is the CEO of Action Engineering, a registered Women-Owned Small Business that specializes in guiding organizations through their transformation into a Model-Based Enterprise (MBE) using Model-Based Definition (MBD). She serves on the Board of Directors of the Digital Metrology Standards Consortium (DMSC) which maintains the QIF and DMIS standards. Ms. Herron has extensive experience with hardware design for spaceflight and military systems, and as such, is an expert in multiple CAD packages (e.g. Creo, NX, SOLIDWORKS, Inventor). She holds a patent for a snake propulsion mechanism and is the author of Re-Use Your CAD: The Model-Based CAD Handbook. Because standards are the lynchpin to a digital transformation, she also serves on the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) as member of the ASME Y14.46 Subcommittee on Product Definition for Additive Manufacturing (AM), ASME Y14.47 Model Organization Practices, ASME Y14.37 Composite Part Drawings, and co-chair of the ASME MBE Steering Committee.
Michelle Nordwald
COO
Michelle Nordwald is the Chief Operating Officer of Action Engineering. She is a registered professional engineer with technical and consulting expertise focused on project management/coordination, technical and economic analyses, and stakeholder collaboration. Ms. Nordwald is responsible for maintaining business systems, managing client relations, and enhancing Action Engineering’s advancement of Model-Based Definition and Model-Based Engineering across the aerospace, defense, automotive, medical, and other product development industries.
Duane Hess
CIO
Duane Hess is the Chief Information Officer of Action Engineering. Duane specializes in CAD to PDM to PLM to ERP integration and on-line and on-site training program development. He is an intellectually curious problem solver with over 15 years of hands-on experience in space planning and knowledge of manufacturing, material handling, logistics, project management, and software development. Duane has successfully designed mechanisms, material handling systems, and packaging equipment. He has a diverse background of practical knowledge and experiences including a Bachelor of Science Degree in Management and an Associate Degree in Drafting. Duane’s PDM and CAD administration approach is influenced by his practical understanding of workflow management, permissions, and documentation support. Pragmatic and systematic troubleshooting enables him to identify areas of improvement and champion PDM system stability.
Ryan Gelotte
CTO
Ryan Gelotte is the Chief Technology Officer of Action Engineering. He is certified as an ASME Geometric Dimensioning and Tolerancing Professional (GDTP) at the 2009 Senior Level. He holds degrees in Plastics Engineering Technology and Mechanical Engineering Technology from Penn State Erie, The Behrend College. His career over the years has included a focus on all aspects of plastic part design and manufacturing, including mold design, as well as expertise of PTC’s various CAD and PLM systems. In fact, Ryan started his career as an Applications Engineer for PTC from 1998-1999 and, over the years, has provided training, support, and consulting services with PTC’s products for several companies. His experience in engineering systems, product design, and manufacturing have been instrumental in preparing him for the many challenges that come with implementing a Model-Based Enterprise. He enjoys the many challenges inherent to the engineering discipline and thrives off of finding new and better ways to accomplish superior results both in engineering and manufacturing operations by defining Model-Based processes.
Kate Hubbard
CMO
Kate Hubbard is the Chief Marketing Officer of Action Engineering. As a Certified ScrumMaster (CSM), she guides the adoption of MBE with an agile mindset. Her focus is continually improving Action Engineering offerings to deliver the highest possible value. Kate began her career with Rolls-Royce Corporation’s engineering leadership development program, where she completed rotations in Electrical Power & Control Systems, Design Engineering, Performance Engineering, and Engineering for Services. She then joined Gates Corporation as an R&D process engineer with the New Technology & Innovation team, where she focused on automated inspection, quality management, and design for manufacturing. She holds B.S. degrees in Mechanical Engineering and Electrical Engineering from Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology.
Rhiannon Gallagher
Chief Social Scientist
Rhiannon heads the team of social scientists that focuses on the people of the MBE transformation. Our social scientists conduct the analysis, create the plans, and design the communication strategies that help people make the transition to a model-based enterprise. Culture does eat strategy for breakfast, but strategy that includes culture wins the day. Bringing the insights of sociology, psychology, and other social sciences into our MBE coaching is one of the unique ways Action assists customers. Rhiannon began her career in technology, designing online community systems in the early days of the web. After teaching and designing courses on a variety of technical topics, she focused her career on improving the usability of computer applications and websites for industries from medicine to mining. Rhiannon is excited to expand the integration of social science within the MBE implementation coaching services delivered by Action Engineering. She has a BA in Geography and English from Macalester College, a Fulbright Scholarship to University College London, and has done graduate work in Human Factors Engineering.
Pamela Gillaspie
Social Architect
Pamela Gillaspie is a Social Architect with Action Engineering. Pamela believes that success in any technology space is all about people, from the boardroom to the shop floor. She is our Agile Product Owner coach, helping clients kickstart their MBE transformation, coaching Agile development practices to foster commitment, trust, and actionable steps to help clients meet their MBE goals. She is also instrumental in our Social Science division: facilitating interviews, site visits, communication plans, and training development. Finally, Pamela brings her product management background to the toolset Action Engineering provides its clients. Pamela studied Logic and Computation at Carnegie Mellon University before moving to Colorado. She began her career in Technical Communication, writing software documentation and training materials, and communication became the foundation of her career. She has worked extensively in software development, especially in the field of test automation.
Dan Feighery
MBD Trainer
Dan Feighery is an MBD Trainer with Action Engineering. He develops and teaches courses on Geometric Tolerancing for MBD and coaching teams to achieve a Model-Based Enterprise. His career began as a tooling engineer for a Fortune 500 company’s aerospace group where he was exposed to design for manufacturability/assembly and quality control. Prior to coming to Action Engineering, he worked for an emerging leader in impact mitigation and cushioning solutions and served as a change agent and champion of business process improvements. Dan holds a B.S. in Engineering Management from Missouri University of Science & Technology with a Management of Technology emphasis. Growing up in a bilingual home, Dan speaks Brazilian Portuguese. When not working, he can be found climbing and volunteering as an instructor with the Colorado Mountain Club.
Emily Cosgrove
Scrum Master
Emily Cosgrove is a Scrum Master with Action Engineering. Emily began her career in the Project Management Professional Excellence Development Program at Rolls-Royce Corporation, completing rotations across the Defense and Civil Aerospace businesses. She spent time working abroad in England and Norway with the Rolls-Royce Marine Division on customer relationship management and new program development. Emily was introduced to MBD/E after taking the role of the project engineer on the digital capability development team at Rolls-Royce. She became interested in agile methodologies after realizing (by trial and error) that the traditional waterfall project management approach doesn’t work when trying to develop complex capabilities such as MBD/E. Emily holds a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Virginia Tech and a graduate certificate in Project Management from Pennsylvania State University. Emily is a Project Management Professional (PMP) and a Certified ScrumMaster (CSM).
